Red Forest
by GraceVanPeltFan4ever
Summary: 3 ten year old triplets get kidnapped. Lisbon sends Grace out to check the forest for any clues to where the girls are being held hostage. What happens when a storm hits leaving an injured Grace lost in the forest with a hostile kidnapper and 3 scared sisters. Will Grace save them in time? Will they make it out of the woods? Will they survive? The story is better than the summary
1. The Kidnapping

**This is my second fanfic! I hope you guys love it (: This first chapter is a little slow but I had to have it in order for the story to make sense, the next chapter will be more interesting. That's when the adventure will start :D Please read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist **

**Chapter 1**

It was late November and the weather was quickly becoming cold. Grace pulled her coat tighter around her as she entered the CBI building. She took the elevator up and entered the bull pen. "Hi, everyone!" Grace greeted her team with a bright smile. "Hello" they chorused back.

"We've got a case, 3 girls have been kidnapped" Lisbon said as walked in.

"Well, what are waiting for? Let's go shall we?" Jane said he was eager to work on a kidnapping case, they were usually fast paced and full of excitement.

"Ok, Van Pelt, Cho, and Rigsby take the van. That leaves Jane with me" Lisbon said.

"Yay!" Jane cried

"Oh joy, won't this be fun" Lisbon said sarcastically

"Ya know Lisbon…" Jane started

But Lisbon interrupted "Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit." Lisbon said, her voice mimicking Jane's.

The rest of the team tried not to laugh as they exited the CBI building.

They pulled up to the victim house, it was light blue and high up in the mountains.

They climbed out of their cars and into the bright sun light. Grace smiled, she loved being outside and she loved the forest. She just wished they were out here under better circumstances.

She followed her team into the house, Lisbon talked to who Grace assumed to be the mother of the girls. Soon they were all sitting in the living room. Grace, Lisbon, and Rigsby were sitting on the coach. Cho was in a chair and Jane was wondering around the room. Across from them sat the girl's mom, dad, and older brother.

"So what happened?" Lisbon asked

"Last night I was in Nevada with my husband attending my sister's wedding we were going to be gone for 4 days so we left Jordan in charge since he's 17. He called me yesterday afternoon and said the girls were begging him to let them camp outside in the tent they got for their birthday last month. I said they could. Jordan didn't want to sleep outside so he sleep inside…" The mother said.

"Okay, what happened next Jordan?" Lisbon asked the more details they could get the easier it would be to solve the case.

"I got up at 5:30, I was going to try and scare my sisters. We always have scare wars and try to see who can scare each other more." He smiled and the memory then continued "I went outside and walked towards their tent. It was dark outside and all I had was dim flashlight so I couldn't really see anything until I got closer to the tent. When I approached it something felt wrong the flap was unzipped and there were scratches and rips all over the tent. I completely forgot about trying to scare them, I ran towards the tent but they weren't in it. I searched everywhere for hours and I still didn't find them. So I called my parents and they took the first flight home."

Lisbon nodded, the poor boy was close to tears.

"Could you tell us anything about the girls?" Lisbon asked the mom.

"Sure their names were Elizabeth, Kimberly, and Samantha they-"

Jane walked into the room "I've got this one" he interrupted "My guess is Samantha preferred to go by Sammie or Sam, Elizabeth by Lizzie or Liz, and Kimberly by Kimmie or Kim" Their mom nodded.

"Lizzie is the most outgoing, she's very kind and entertaining. She loves the arts: singing, acting, dancing, and playing instruments. She is very creative but sometimes she can be overly dramatic." The mom starred in awe.

"Kimmie is the shyest of the three, she loves learning and is very smart and thoughtful. She's very knowledgeable but is sensitive and easily scared." Now both the mom, dad, and brother stared in amazement.

"And last but not least Sammie, she is the most athletic. She loves all sports but soccer is her favorite. She's funny and always knows how to make people smile and cheer them up. She's strong and determined, she never gives up and she doesn't back down. She's adventurous- sometimes she's reckless, spontaneous, and impulsive."

From the looks on the father, mother, and brothers face Jane could tell he had hit the mark.

"How did you know?" The mom asked

"Your husband showed me your daughters bed rooms. You can tell a lot about a person from their bed room. Oh and they are triplets- 10 years old" Jane said.

"I'm speechless, you were correct on everything" She said

"Oops I forgot Jordan! Jordan wants to be a director. He loves filming movies and the girls"

Jordan nodded then his face lit up. "The camera!" He yelled his voice was filled with hope as he darted out the front door.

He stopped at the tent and fiddled with the sleeping bags. Lisbon, Grace, and Rigsby watched cautiously. They heard a sudden 'Ahh-haaa' "I've got it" Jordan said as he emerged from the tent.

"Got what?" Grace asked curiously

"My video camera, I told the girls to record what they did yesterday." Jordan answered

"So you're thinking you might have got a shot of the kidnapper" Lisbon asked

"Yeah, do you think it was kidnap?" He asked

"I'm afraid so, the tent shows signs of kidnap and struggle"

"Okay, here's the video camera you should check the footage" He said as he headed back to his house

"Please find my sisters" He said before disappearing into the house.

After talking with the parents and examining the tent the team went back to the CBI office

***CBI Office***

The team entered the bull pen. They got to work right away. "Van Pelt could you view the video camera footage and look for any clues of sign of a kidnaper"

"Sure boss" Grace said.

She pulled out the video camera and took out the memory card. She plugged it into her computer and waited for it to load. She started viewing the videos from the other day. She smiled as she watched a video of the sisters dancing around Lizzie's room and singing into their hair brushes. Their curly brown hair bounced as they jumped and their blue eyes shined. She saw a video of them playing soccer, having a pillow fight, and painting each other's nails. She fast forward the tape a little until she noticed they were in the hot pink tent. They were still wearing the clothes they had been in earlier. She fast forwarded more until they were asleep- they must have left the video camera on. The camera was wedged between a few pillows, it was hard to see much but she could make out the silhouette of someone at the flap of the tent. The flap was opened and someone came in and took the girls. In the confusion a pillow was thrown over the camera and the screen went black.

"Lisbon, I've got something." Grace called out

Lisbon came over and Grace showed her what she had just seen.

"Okay, great work Van Pelt"

**Thanks for reading I hope you liked the first chapter the next will be much more interesting! Please read and review :)**


	2. The Woods

**Hi! Thank you a million times to TygerTygerCrimsonTears and thetyger for reviewing the story! It gave me motivation to write faster. I hope you like this chapter! By the way I forgot to say the last name of the family in the last chapter so here it is: The last name of the family is Peterson. Pretty please read and review! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist**

**Chapter 2**

It was around 6 in the evening and Grace was typing away on her computer. They were working on a kidnapping case which required a ridiculous amount of time. But Grace didn't care, she loved her job. Lisbon walked up to Grace's desk "Hey, I know it's a bit late but would you mind going back to the girls' house and looking around the tent and general area? Maybe just drive around?" Lisbon asked.

"No problem boss, I'll get right on it!" Grace said she was excited to get out of the office.

"Thanks Van Pelt. After watching the video you might notice other clues."

"Okay, bye boss" Grace said

"Bye" Lisbon said, as Grace left the bull pen.

Grace exited the CBI building and stepped into the chilling cold and strong winds. She shivered and rushed towards her car. The sun had already set, and the lack or sun light wasn't helping the cold. Grace could vaguely spot some gray clouds in the sky, she hoped it wouldn't rain.

She got in her car and started driving towards the mountains where the girls lived. She soon reached the mountains. It was hard to see in the darkness and her GPS was not cooperating. She pulled up to a fork in the road one road was called lemon, the other was lime road (I saw streets like this once it was awesome!) She sighed and pulled over, she dug a map out from under her seat. After about an hour of fumbling with the map Grace figured out where to go, she drove down lime road.

Grace finally drove up to the Peterson house. She climbed out of the car with a satisfied smile, 'and Rigsby said I couldn't read a map' She thought, thinking about how she had gotten but her and Rigsby lost last week.

She knocked on the door and was greeted by the girls mom.

"Hello, sorry to disturb you so late at night, I just wanted to know if I could look around a bit more?" Grace said

"Sure. If you need anything not hesitate to ask" She replied

"Ok thanks, goodnight Mrs. Peterson" Grace said

"Night" Mrs. Peterson said.

Grace turned back to her car and grabbed her flashlight. While she was in the car she saw the clock 8:00 already. 'Wow I really need to hurry up' she thought. She walked towards the tent and around the area. She noticed some tire tracks that lead up to the tent and then back into the woods. She followed them for about a quarter of a mile until she came across a car that was rammed into a tree. She knew enough about kidnappings to know that this was the kidnapper's truck. They probably dumped it when the forest got too thick to drive. She cautiously approached the truck. Grace looked at her phone it was almost 9:00 now. She sighed, it was too late to call Lisbon. She was probably home already. So Grace snapped a picture of the car and sent it in a text along with a description of what she had found out. She got a reply from Lisbon in a few minutes. It said: _Okay, nice work Van Pelt. Feel free to go home. Thanks for your help. See you tomorrow._

Grace replied: _Okay. Good night boss._

Grace turned off her phone and slipped it into her back pocket. She walked back to her car in the frigid weather.

She eventually spotted her car and smiled, it had been a long cold walk and it was already 9:45 she was exhausted.

She opened the door and collapsed into the front seat. She turned her car on and drove away from the house. She pulled up to a fork in the road. She didn't really know which way to go, in her sleep deprived state she ended up driving down lemon road (Hint: this is the wrong road!) A sudden crack of thunder made her jump it brought her back to reality and she suddenly didn't know where she was. She sighed and pulled over for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

**Thanks for reading! Please review!**


	3. Rain, Rain Go Away!

**Hi! Last night I had a dream that I got over 100 reviews on my story! Unfortunetly that didn't happen but I did get a ton of sweet reviews from thetyger! That made me so happy I had a dance party in my living room with my dog it was really lame :P Thank you so much thetyger your reviews made my day! Anyway I hope you like this chapter, it's pretty intense! haha it was a bit hard to write so it might not be perfect! Please tell me what you think!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist**

**Chapter 3**

Grace stared at the map. Her mind was foggy and she couldn't figure out where she was on the map. Her GPS was being stupid and she had given up on it ages ago.

"Why won't you work?" She cried at the map

She looked at the clock it was 10:45, she groaned in frustration.

She finally decided she would just turn around and try to retrace her steps. She knew she had taken a few turns, and she couldn't really remember them. But she was so tired and she really just wanted to be at her house sleeping in her bed.

She turned around it was extremely hard to see the road now. The darkness had made the road seem to disappear, she couldn't really make out where the road was and where it ended. She could easy drive off the side of the mountain. That wasn't a very reassuring thought for a person on a mountain, alone, in the dark, with rain clouds in the sky.

'How could this night get any worse' Grace thought as she was driving up an incredibly steep and thin road. (Once I was in a car and we drove up a really steep mountain and the car started to roll backwards and go back down the mountain! It was actually kind of fun once I realized I wasn't going to die :P )

Then as if on cue there was another clash of thunder, followed by a blinding strip of lighting. It started to pour the rain came down fast and hard. Grace didn't know what to do, the only thing she really did know was she wasn't in the fall-off-a-mountain-in-a-car kind of mood.

So she sat there terrified in her car, hoping she wouldn't slide off the mountain. Unfortunately luck wasn't really in her favor. The rain didn't lighten and the thin road started to wash away. Grace's car didn't have much friction and it wasn't holding up well against the strong winds and heavy rain. She felt her car slide closer to the edge of the mountain.

It felt like it was happening in slow motion. Her car slipped over the edge. A few seconds felt like hours as her car fell. Then it hit the ground with a thud, and her car started to roll. Grace couldn't think, everything was whirling past her. She was lucky she had worn her seat belt, otherwise she would probably be dead. But there were still things flying around her car. She watched as her phone whizzed by and shattered the window next to her send glass everywhere. She felt herself get cut on the face and arms but that was the least of her problems

The rolling lost speed and Grace sighed in relief, until she heard the sound of a raging river. Her car went in with a splash. Grace felt the icy water start to seep into her car. It was still dark she looked at her watch it was almost midnight. She tried to find her flash light, snacks she kept for Rigsby, and the few water bottles she kept in her car. She didn't know where she was and it was likely that she was lost and she had no clue how long she would be out here. She wedged her right foot under her seat to keep her from sliding around as she searched.

There was a booming thump as the car smashed into a colossal boulder on the edge of the river. (That was inspired by a time I went white water rafting! If you have never gone white water rafting I highly recommend it! It's incredibly fun!) She heard a sickening crack as the sudden jolt from hitting the boulder caused her right ankle to snap as the car bounced up.

She felt the pain rush through her body. She realized this was her chance to get out of the car, she threw the few supplies she had collected into an oversized lunch box Rigsby had forgotten to take out of her car.

She was scared to move her foot but she knew she had to. She tried not to turn it or bend as she slid it out from under her seat. She put all her weight on her left foot as she climbed into the passenger seat and tried to open the door it was jammed. She had no choice but to go out through the window. It wouldn't roll down, Grace panicked she took out her gun and shoot the window and threw the lunchbox out. She then did her best to drag herself out the window without cutting herself. She scratched her knee as she threw herself onto the shore.

She landed on her back and groaned. She grabbed a tall sturdy stick next to her and used it to steady her as she stood up. She grabbed the lunchbox, and decided to go into the forest. It was still raining hard and the river would probably overflow and she was in no position to swim. Her ankle was injured pretty badly and she could feel it throbbing. She was too scared to look at her injuries she decided she would wait for morning. Until then she needed to sleep, she stumbled along in a half hop, half crawl/walk she supported herself on the stick she had grabbed. She shivered the rain was starting to lighten up but it was still freezing outside and the fact that her legs were soaked from the car flooding and her hair was wet and plastered to her face.

She found a soft spot of grass. She slowly eased herself to the ground. She curled up and did her best to stay warm.

She drifted off into a painful sleep.

**Thanks for reading! Pretty please review!**


	4. The Meeting!

**Hey! I hope you love this chapter! I can totally feel for Grace in this chapter, because I hurt my knee at soccer practice! Haha nothing serious, not even close to what happened to Grace! This chapter was super fun to write, I love Sam, Kim, and Liz **

**Chapter 4**

***In the cabin where the triplets are being held***

Sammie woke up, her whole body hurt. She blinked until her surroundings came into focus. She wasn't in the tent, she was on the floor of a dirty cabin next to her lay Kimmie, and Lizzie. She then remembered being taken from her tent last night then drugged and put in a car. She ached and laid where she was. She didn't know what to do, she couldn't believe she had been kidnapped. She decided to pretend to be asleep until she came up with a plan. She saw a adult walk in, he walked toward her with chains. One thought crossed her mind: We need to get out!

As soon as the man got close to her she lifted her leg and kicked him in the face as hard as she could. He screamed and she took advantage of his shock, she got up and hit him in the head. He passed out.

She walked over to Kimmie and Lizzie "Get up, we need to get out now! I'll explain later" They both groaned and opened their eyes. The both remembered what had happened the night before. "Come on, let's go" She cried. They both got up, all three over them looked for an exit.

Kimmie noticed light coming in from a hole in the wall. "Sam, Liz over here" She hissed. They ran over.

"Sammie use some of your soccer kicky stuff!" Lizzie said

"Okay, okay…" Sammie said.

She kicked at the wall until the hole got big enough for them to squeeze through.

They quickly got through, and squinted in the sunlight.

"I don't know where to go" Kimmie admitted

"Neither do I, but I do know we have to get out and away from here. As far as possible" Lizzie said

"I say we go that way!" Sam said in a random direction

"Why?" Lizzie asked

"I don't know, but we need to leave now!" Sammie said

Kim rolled her eyes typical Sam randomly picking something! 'She can be so impulsive' Kimmie thought

"It's really illogical, but I don't know what else to do! So let's go" Kimmie said

They ran and didn't stop until their legs felt like jello and they were out of breath. Sammie insisted they kept running but the other girls resisted, eventually she gave in and they took a break.

After a few minutes Kimmie got them all in a group "So here's the deal we need a plan"

"Okay let's keep walking though" Sammie said

"Wait stop" Lizzie said

"What is it Liz?" Sam asked

"I hear a river"

"Let's follow it" Kimmie said

"Okay" Sammie and Lizzie said.

The girls walked along the river, it was over flowing so they walked in the woods. They came across a soft spot of grass where they saw someone sleeping. Her auburn hair was spread across her face. She had blood on her clothes and in her hair.

The girls screamed and looked at each other with wide eyes.

"Follow me" Sam said. She raced to a tree and climbed up it, her sisters followed her.

They watched as the lady slept. They turned to face each other. They were all thinking the same thing: The lady might be able to help them. But none of them wanted to say anything.

Finally Lizzie spoke up "She looks hurt, we should help her"

"Yeah, I would feel bad leaving her and maybe she could help us get home." Sammie said

"Allies are good. We could work together." Kimmie agreed

"Well do we wake her?" Sammie asked

"I don't know, I think we should just wait up her for a little while" Kimmie said

"Great plan!" Lizzie said

The sisters perched in the tree and watched, they finally had time to thinking about everything. They were lost in the woods, without food or water and it was starting to get cold.

Grace woke up, the events of the night replayed in her head. Her body ached, she had a headache and her ankle was searing with pain. She rubbed her eyes and hopped when she opened them everything would have been a dream.

She opened her eyes and squinted in the sun light, 'nope not a dream' she thought. She needed to keep moving. She could probably find a house or someone who could help her. She figured with the car rolling and being taken down a river she was probably miles away from any houses.

She sat up and looked around, for some reason a tree caught her eye. There was a piece of long curly brown hair hang down from it. Then she saw it; 3 pairs of big blue eyes. So she wasn't alone there were 3 kids with her. She didn't know why but they looked awfully familiar.

"She's up" Sammie said loudly, she was the highest of the sisters. They had told her to keep look out.

"Be quite Sam!" Kimmie gave Sammie's branch a little shake.

Sammie usually would have been able to catch her balance but she wasn't expecting the branch to shake.

As she fell she reached for a branch but missed. She landed on her hands and knees. She looked up and laughed as she saw Kimmie's terrified face, "I'm fine" She said.

Kimmie shook her head and pointed to where Grace was sitting.

Sammie's eyes went wide as she remembered the lady.

Sammie ran behind the tree and peeked out.

Grace smiled "It's okay, you can come out!" She said

Sammie the most daring of the three stepped out from behind the tree. Lizzie climbed down she was outgoing and pretty curious about lady.

"Come on Kim" Lizzie said.

"Please Kimmie?" Sam said.

Kimmie reluctantly came down "You first!" She said and shoved Lizzie and Sammie forward.

Sammie and Lizzie slowly walked toward Grace. Grace tried to stand up but she winced as pain shot through her ankle, the girls noticed this. Grace tried to pretend like she was fine, she didn't want the girls to know she was hurt. She studied the girls, then gasped when she realized who they were.

"Peterson right?" Grace asked

"Umm yeah how do you know?" Lizzie asked

Grace pulled out her CBI badge so the girls could see, she explained how she was looking for them when the thunderstorm hit.

The girls figured since she was a CBI agent that it was okay to talk to her.

They sat down in front of Grace.

"Are you okay?" Lizzie asked as she noticed all the cuts on Grace and remembered how she had trouble standing.

"I wish I could say yes, but I don't really know. I know I've gotten cut a lot and pretty badly on my knee and head. But what I'm really worried about is my ankle" Grace said with a sigh

"What happened to your ankle?" Kimmie asked

"It was wedged under my seat when I hit the rock. I heard a crack, I mean it could have been a branch or something. But I don't really want to look at it" Grace explained

"Sam broke her ankle last year, she could look at it and tell you about. Kimmie could help she wants to be a doctor" Lizzie said helpfully.

"Yeah we could help, we don't want you to be hurt" Sam said. Kimmie nodded in agreement

"Okay, I guess" Grace she didn't know what choice she had.

"Can you roll up your pants, and take off your shoes?" Kim asked

"Sure" Grace replied she pulled off her black flat and rolled up her pants. She looked away she didn't want to see how bad it was.

"Lizzie go talk to her, try to get her to stop thinking about the pain" Sammie said

"Okay" Liz said, she moved in front of Grace and started asking her about her job.

After one glance at her ankle Kim and Sam could tell it was broken. "Well it's no question it's broken. It's really swollen, purple, and red" Kimmie informed Grace.

Grace actually smiled, these little girls were so cute, Kim acted all professional like she was a real doctor.

"Okay" Grace said with a shrug

"Oh by the way what's your name?" Sam asked

"I'm Grace, and you are?"

"I'm Sam, that's Kim, and that's Liz" Sammie said

"Nice to meet you" Grace said.

**Thanks for reading! Please review! I have a question for you guys, I was just curious but who do you think you are most like? Liz, Sam, or Kim? I really love all three of them! What do you think of the story so far? I've really enjoyed writing it so far!**


	5. The Office!

**Hey! I'm sorry if this chapter isn't great, it's mostly fluff. But fluff can be good, sometimes! I have a serious case of writers block, so I came up with this because I felt like I needed to update! Sorry that it's kind of short, I promise the next chapter will have Grace and her triplet buddies in it! I have the story planned out but I don't know how to write it! I really hate writers block! Oh well, please read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist **

**Chapter 5**

(This is kind of confusing but this is around the same time the girls found Grace, but this is at the CBI office)

Jane was sitting on his coach drinking his tea, Rigsby and Cho were researching suspects, and Lisbon was in her office. It was 8:00 and Grace still wasn't at work. She usually arrived at around 7:15 every day. She was never late and she never took sick days. No one was about to admit it but they were getting a little worried.

Lisbon walked into the bull pen "Where's Van Pelt?" she demanded

"I don't know" Rigsby said and Cho nodded in agreement

"Have you seen her this morning?"

"No" Cho and Rigsby said.

"Jane? Any ideas?" Lisbon asked

"Not really Lisbon" Jane replied

"Liar! You always have an idea Jane!" Lisbon said, as she glared at Jane

"Okay, okay… jeez don't hurt me woman!" Jane exclaimed with a grin

"Jane!"

"Fine… well she's obviously not at work. Grace is one of the most dedicated agents we know. She wouldn't just not show up because she doesn't feel like it. So she's hurt, sick, or stuck somewhere. Have you tried calling her?" Jane said

"No" Lisbon said

"Well I would highly suggest you do that!" Jane said, but Lisbon was already out of the room on her cell phone.

Lisbon stomped back into the bull pen "She didn't answer did she?" Jane asked.

"No she didn't!" Lisbon snapped

"Maybe her phone died" Cho suggested

"Or she lost it" Rigsby added

Jane wasn't really sure what to think "I say we go to her house!"

"Usually I wouldn't care what you say Jane! But you've got a point" Lisbon said

"Rigsby, Cho stay here and work on the kidnapping. If you see or hear from Grace yell at her for me then give me a call" Lisbon said "Jane come with me"

Jane followed Lisbon to her car.

"Can I drive?" Jane asked eagerly

"Not a chance" Lisbon said

"Oh but Lisbon… You never let me drive" Jane whined

"Oh but Jane… You never listen to me" Lisbon said, in a tone mocking Jane

"In my defense you can be so boring, your plans are just so typical" Jane said with a boyish grin

"At least they're legal!" Lisbon shoot back, with a glare but Jane could tell she was trying to suppress a smile

"Well you've got a point, but what fun is legal?" Jane teased

"It's tons of fun" Lisbon joked as she climbed into the driver's seat.

Jane climbed into the passenger seat.

The drive to Grace's house was pretty uneventful. They pulled up into the parking lot of Grace's apartment building. They entered the building and found her apartment, Lisbon knocked on the door. There was no answer, Lisbon yelled. Jane picked the lock, they walked into Grace's apartment. They searched each room, Grace wasn't there.

"Jane…" Lisbon said, her voice filled with concern

"Yes, Lisbon"

"Remember how I sent Van Pelt out last night to check out the crime scene…" Jane nodded "She texted me a picture of the kidnaper's car she had found, it was around 9:00 last night. Remember how that storm hit at 11:00, what if she got lost or crashed. There's no point in denying that Van Pelt is terrible at reading maps, I mean she got both her and Rigsby lost last week! She's probably lost in the woods, with a kidnaper!" Lisbon yelled

Jane knew Lisbon was probably right; it was the only thing that made sense. "Well then we better get a search and rescue team out there" Jane said.

Lisbon nodded weakly and pulled out her phone.

**I'm really sorry this chapter is so short! I'm going to watch some episodes of the Mentalist it will give me inspiration and ideas! But the best inspiration is reviews, so pretty please review! Reviews are the best cure for writers block! Thanks for reading!**


	6. In The Woods!

**I'm really sorry it took so long to update but here's the new chapter! I had terrible writers block, but your reviews helped me (Hint! Hint! Haha) This chapter is a bit random, and may not make sense. I sat down in front of my computer and wouldn't let myself get up until I finished it. Then I got really off task and started reading fanfics (Bad me!) Anyway, I finally finished this chapter! I hope you like it! It's a lot of fluff but it's leading up to something! Pretty please read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist**

**Chapter 6**

The sun had set, and the cold weather was setting in. Grace had gone camping quite frequently as a kid so she knew how to light a fire and do basic camping stuff. The triplets had collected firewood, and Grace had made a fire. They were all sitting around it enjoying the warmth. They had shared Grace's food and water and they decided that tomorrow they would start following the river and try to find someone who could help them.

The wind was blowing hard, as Lizzie finished the story she was telling. The girls laughed, and Grace smiled. If she had to be stuck in the woods with triplets, she would definitely choose these three. Their personalities were so different, so it made it quite entertaining to watch them and their different reactions to things. Grace's thoughts drifted to her team. She wondered where they were and what they were doing. 'Rigsby's probably eating, Jane is probably annoying Lisbon, Lisbon is probably yelling at him, and Cho is probably watching it all with a straight face' Grace couldn't help but smile, her team always seemed to cheer her up. She hoped they would find her. She then started thinking about the topic she had tried so hard to avoid 'we are in the woods with a hostile kidnapper' Grace tried to push the thought away but she couldn't. Luckily she was distracted by Sammie's voice.

"Let's tell ghost stories!" Sammie said with a grin.

"Let's not…" Kimmie said, her face was filled with worry

"Why not?" Sammie said with disappointed look on her face.

"Because we are in the woods alone, with a person we barley know! In the dark, lost!" Lizzie practically yelled. Both her and Kimmie looked so annoyed that Grace had to laugh.

"We're not alone, we have Grace. And we've almost known her for 24 hours! That counts, and she works for the CBI. And just because we are lost doesn't mean we can't tell stories. Oh and you have tell ghost stories in dark, it's like a law!" Sammie teased.

Lizzie and Kimmie rolled their eyes

"You're crazy!" Kimmie said

"I'm with Kim" Lizzie agreed

"I'm a special kind of crazy!" Sammie declared

Everyone laughed.

"Sorry Sammie, but I don't think ghost stories are such a great idea right now…" Grace said

"Okay" Sammie said with a sigh

"Let's play manhunt!" Lizzie said

"Yeah!" Kimmie agreed

"I'm in! Will you play with us Grace?" Sammie asked

"I really hate to be the boring person in charge who doesn't let you do anything fun, but I really don't think we should be playing manhunt. It's dark and you could trip and hurt yourself. And I can't play any way, I hurt my ankle. I think it would be best if we just stayed around here. Sorry" Grace said, she left out any mentions of the kidnapper she didn't want to scare them.

"It's okay, I understand" Kimmie said, and the girls nodded in agreement

"What should we do then?" Lizzie asked

"I know this is going to sound really lame, and you're not going to want to do it but you should probably go to sleep" Grace answered

"Okay" The triplets said in unison.

The girls lay down next to each other.

"Goodnight Grace" They whispered softly

"Night girls" Grace said with a smile, the girls were so sweet

Everything was quiet for a few minutes and Grace thought the girls had fallen asleep.

"Wait aren't you gonna sleep?" Lizzie asked Grace

"Not right now, but you girls need to sleep!" Grace answered

"But you need to sleep too!" Kimmie said

"Yeah! If you don't sleep you are going to be really really really tired!" Sammie said

"Like super tired!" Lizzie asked

"I'm fine, really! I'm just going to stay up for a bit." Grace said

"Alright" Kimmie said.

"Now go to sleep, okay?" Grace said

The girls nodded.

A few minutes later the silence was interrupted by Sammie "I'm not tired! I really want candy, or sugar! Have you ever eaten sugar plain? It's really amazing!"

Everyone laughed, "I can honestly say I have never eaten sugar plain!" Grace said with a grin

"I have!" Sammie cried!

"She gets like this when she needs sleep, or eats a lot of sugar!" Lizzie said through laughter

"She gets really funny sugar rushes it could go on for hours or it might just be a few minutes, you never know!" Kimmie said

"Well what do I do?" Grace asked nervously

"Nothing, she'll fall asleep eventually and once she does she won't wake up for a while" Lizzie said

"Okay" Grace said with a shrug

"Let's play soccer, or jump off trees! Let's- OMG! Look a bunny" Sammie said as she jumped around and pointed at a bunny that was hopping by some trees.

Lizzie and Kimmie where laughing hysterically, Sammie joined in with them for no reason and Grace looked at them like they were crazy!

After an awkward moment of staring everyone started laughing again.

But the laughing was interrupted by the snap of twigs, and rustle of leaves as a dark figure came into sight…

**I know evil me, making it a cliffhanger. Well that was my lame attempt at a cliff hanger! Haha! I'll update soon! Please review, if you do I'll write faster (And try to stay on task more, when I'm writing) I promise!**

**Thanks for reading! Pretty please review!**


	7. Hello, Again!

**I hope you like this chapter! I'm sorry it took so long, I had terrible writers block. But I'm all good now! I hope you love this chapter. Pretty please read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist**

** Chapter 7**

_The laughing was interrupted by the snap of twigs, and rustle of leaves as a dark figure came into sight…_

Kimmie was the first to notice it, her eyes went wide and she tapped Grace. "What is that" She asked her voice full of fear

Sammie and Lizzie both looked up and saw the figure, which had its back turned to them at the moment.

"I don't know" Grace said as she stood up shakily on her hurt foot to get a better look, the girls stood up too.

"What should we do?" Sammie asked nervously

"Run, go away as fast as you can but stay together. If I can I will try to find you later, but don't wait for me. Try to find a house or someone. Understand?" Grace said her voice full of anxiety

"Yeah, but what about you?" Sammie said

"I'll be fine I just need to see who this person is." Grace said trying to keep her voice calm

"Well you obviously know the person isn't good!" Lizzie said

"I know, but you need to go. You could get hurt" Grace said

"But you can't even really run Grace, you've hurt your ankle. You can barely stand" Kimmie said

"It doesn't matter, you need to leave" Grace insisted

"No, we aren't going." Sammie said

"We don't want to leave you here" Lizzie added

"Yep, we aren't going anywhere" Kimmie said

"Girls I don't have time for this! Go please" Grace said

"Fine!" The girls said, but they weren't really leaving. They walked back a few feet then came around and stood to the side of Grace. But just far enough so Grace didn't know they were there. They didn't realize they had just put themselves closer to the kidnapper.

The figure turned around and walked toward the girls. Grace tried not to show her fear.

"Who are you?" Grace asked, she tried to keep her voice strong

"That doesn't matter, what does matter is why I'm here" He replied

"And why is that?" Grace challenged

The girls watched, they recognized the man as their kidnapper.

"I originally kidnapped three girls, they escaped and I'd like them back." He said

"I don't know who you're talking about. Tell me your name" Grace replied

"Fine my name is Jake Michael" He said

The girls gasped, they had heard that name before. It was someone their dad had worked with this year, they had been friends. Why was he doing this? They thought. The kidnapper heard the gasp and turned towards them.

"Well it seems like I won't have to look far…" He said and turned to the girls

***Grace's POV***

'What? Why are they still here? They agreed to leave. I have to do something, oh I really hope he doesn't have a gun! Please don't have a gun, please don't have a gun. No luck. Okay focus Grace you've to do something' I thought. Jake pulled out a gun

'Really? That's just not fair' I complained in my head.

He aimed it towards the girls "Don't shoot!" I cried

"Why not, would you rather it be you?" Jake asked

There was no reasoning with this man, I wasn't sure what to do. If I let him kill me he would most likely just kill Sammie, Kimmie, and Lizzie as soon as I couldn't do anything

"Yes" I replied, that's when I remembered my gun. If I pulled it out quickly he would probably shoot all of us. I decided to slowly pull it out.

"Too bad, I don't care about you" Jake said

"Hello again girls, sorry but this is something I have to do" He continued with a shrug. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at the girls.

The girls looked fearful, but they still stood together. John pulled the trigger.** ( I was going to be mean and end the chapter here, but I decided not to!)**

Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion and only one thought crossed my mind: Don't let them get hurt.

So I did the only thing I could think of, I dove in front of the bullet. When I did, I pulled out my gun and shot Jake. At least he was finally out of the way.

I felt it; first a dull pang above my hip, then a searing pain that rushed through my body, and lastly relief that the girls were alive. I fell to the ground.

"Grace! You saved our lives" The girls cried and knelt down beside me

"Hey girls" I replied weakly

"Grace you got shot because of us! Are you okay?" Sammie asked

"I'm fine" I said

"No you're not! You've been shot!" Lizzie said

"Kimmie, what do we do?" Sammie asked

"We need to apply pressure to the wound." Kimmie said

"Okay, how?" Lizzie asked

"I'll do it. I know it's still dark but the sun will rise soon, you two need to go and find help. But remember the way you came, when you get help lead them back her to Grace and me" Kimmie instructed

"Okay, bye Grace bye Kimmie. We're really sorry this happened Grace. But don't worry we're going to help you and everything is going to be okay" Lizzie and Sammie said.

"Don't worry about it girls. It wasn't your fault." I said

Sammie and Lizzie nodded and started walking.

Kimmie turned back to me, "Can you take off your jacket"

"Sure" I said and pulled off my jacket as I avoided moving my hip.

"Thanks" Kimmie said, she put the jacket on my wound and pushed. I winced.

"I'm sorry, if this hurts" Kimmie said nervously

"It's not you, don't worry. You're doing great" I said.

Kimmie nodded.

I could feel myself growing tired and I wanted nothing more than to sleep but I knew that if I closed my eyes and we didn't get help soon then I might not wake up. So I did my best to keep them open.

**I feel really bad for have Grace get shot but I felt like it needed to happen. I really hate having Grace get hurt! Thanks for reading! Please leave a review!**


	8. Lost and Found!

**This story is coming close to an end, I think there might be one or two more chapters! I don't really have much to say other than I hope you love this chapter and pretty please review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist **

**Chapter 8**

Lisbon couldn't stand the thought of Grace being out in the woods with a kidnapper. She couldn't sleep so she got out of her bed and got dressed. She threw on her coat and grabbed a flashlight she was going to go look around the forest.

She drove around the mountains and decided to stop after driving down a road called Lemon Street. 'Why would anyone name a street lemon street? People these days!' she thought. She rolled her eyes and got out of her car. She didn't know where to start so headed into the woods and just started walking.

***Lizzie and Sammie***

They had been walking for a few minutes when Sammie turned to Lizzie "Hey Liz, how are we going to find our way back?"

"Ummm, let's mark the trees or something" Lizzie said

"Okay, do you have anything to write with" Sammie asked

"Let me check" Lizzie said as she dug around her pockets "Got it!" She said and pulled out a black sharpie.

"Cool! Let's mark this tree" Sammie said and pointed to a tree

"Okay, we should randomly mark trees as we walk" Lizzie said

"Yeah!"

The girls walked in silence for half an hour until Lizzie broke the silence

"Do you think Grace is going to be okay?" Lizzie asked nervously

Sammie looked down "I've been trying not to think about it. I'm not sure but I really hope she is. I mean she has to be okay! She helped us so much! She saved our lives Liz!"

"I know, I really want her to be okay…"

"Me too…"

The girls walked for another hour until they heard a rustle.

They looked at each other nervously "What was that?" Lizzie whispered

"Um, it was probably just a squirrel or rabbit" Sammie said

"Yeah, you're probably right. But what if it's a bear? Or a fox? Or a kidnapper? Or Big Foot?" Lizzie said anxiously

"You're right Lizzie, it's definitely Big Foot!" Sammie teased

"Don't provoke it!" Lizzie cried, genuinely scared

"I was only kidding Lizzie. Don't worry, it's not Big Foot I promise!" Sammie said

"Fine. But if it is, you get eaten first!" Lizzie said

"Deal!" Sammie said.

***Lisbon***

She had been walking in the forest for about two and a half hours. She heard something in front of her. Lisbon stopped and looked around, "Hello?" She called out

Sammie and Lizzie looked at each other and dashed behind a tree.

They peeked out from behind.

Lisbon shined her flashlight around the area, until she saw two little girls. She recognized them as the girls in the video Grace had showed her.

"Hi, there. I'm agent Lisbon I work for the CBI" Lisbon said and pulled out her badge.

The girls ran out from behind the tree "Do you know someone named Grace?" The girls asked eagerly

Lisbon's eyes brightened "Yes, does she work for the CBI?"

The girls nodded. "Bright red hair?"

"Yep!"

"She needs help. She was shot by our kidnapper and she's hurt" The girls gushed

"Okay, where is she?" Lisbon asked anxiously

"Follow us" The girls exclaimed and took off running. Lisbon hurried after them.

After 30 minutes of running, they spotted Grace and Kimmie. They panted and ran over.

"Van Pelt!" Lisbon exclaimed, and knelt down beside her.

"Van Pelt! Are you okay? What happened?" Lisbon asked anxiously, the girls backed away and let Lisbon and Grace have some time alone.

"Hey boss, I'm fine. There was a kidnapper and Sammie, Kimmie, and Lizzie. And the kidnapper had a gun and I got shot. He's gone now though, so everything's okay nobody's going to get hurt." Grace answered, her voice was filled with pain, she struggled to keep it out of her voice but Lisbon heard it.

"Oh Grace, hang in there." Lisbon said

"Okay" Grace said her voice was sleepy.

"Did you get hurt anywhere else?" Lisbon asked

"I don't know." Grace said, Lisbon could tell she was fading fast. Grace needed help.

Lisbon turned to face the triplets "Are you all okay?" She asked

"Yeah, is Grace going to be okay?" They asked

"She got hurt pretty bad. But Grace is strong, she should be okay."

The girls nodded.

"Does she have any other injuries, I should know about?" Lisbon asked

The girls looked at each other and tried to think back

"She hurt her ankle- it's probably broken" Kimmie said

"And she got that cut on her knee" Sammie said

"And the cut on her head" Lizzie added

"Okay thanks" Lisbon said and pulled out her cell phone.

"I'm going to call an ambulance, okay Grace?" Lisbon said

"Mmmhhhm…" Grace said and nodded slightly

Lisbon stepped away for a second, with her phone stepped to her ear.

"We've got an issue" Lisbon said as she walked back to the girls and Grace

"What is it?" The triplets asked

"The ambulance can't get down here, so we have to get Grace up to the road. Which is at least two miles away" Lisbon said

"Well we better get moving. Grace needs help as soon as possible." Sammie said

Everyone walked over to Grace "Hey Grace. This is probably going to hurt a little but I need you to try to stand up. We're going to help you." Lisbon said softly.

Grace had gotten slightly better "Okay" She said quietly. She put her hands behind her and slowly pushed herself to her feet. She winced but kept going until she stood up, and balanced on her left ankle. She grasped her hip where she had been shot.

"Can you walk?" Lisbon asked

"I'll try" Grace said and attempted to take a step. She couldn't put weight on her right ankle, her hip was searing with pain, her knee was bloody, and she had a terrible headache which probably had something to do with the gash on her head. Grace bit back a scream.

"This isn't working" Lisbon said. She moved closer to Grace "Try leaning on me and walking" Grace followed Lisbon's instructions. After a bit of trial and error they developed a system.

The girls led the way, Grace and Lisbon slowly followed.

Every few minutes Lisbon would stop and make sure Grace was okay. She could Grace was dangerously close to unconsciousness.

The sun was starting to rise, they had been walking for over an hour when Kimmie spoke

"I think we're almost there"

"Yay!" Sammie and Lizzie cheered

"How are you doing Grace?" Lisbon asked Grace

"I'm okay" Grace said her voice was strained and weak.

"We are almost there. Soon everything is going to be okay" Lisbon said

Grace nodded.

The girls wanted to say something to Grace but they didn't know what to say so they kept quiet.

About 15 minutes later Sammie yelled "I see the road!"

After a walk full of struggle they finally reached the road.

Lisbon informed the medics about what had happened to Grace.

They rushed Grace on to a stretcher and into the ambulance.

They then took the triplets and put them in an ambulance.

Lisbon agreed to meet Grace and the triplets at the hospital.

She climbed into her car and took out her phone. First she called the girls' parents and told them everything she knew, then she called her team. She didn't say anything to them but "Meet me at the hospital"

**Thanks for reading! Please review and tell me your thoughts on the chapter!**


	9. Safe and Sound!

**Long time, no see! Sorry it's taken my forever to update, but chapter 9 is finally here! It's really short, but I didn't want to drag it on. I think there will be an epilogue and then this story will be over. Do you want to know something ironic? Okay so you know how Grace broke her right ankle in my story, yeah well I sprained my ankle very badly playing soccer yesterday. It's really annoying because I have to use crutches and I can't play soccer for 4 weeks! That's a really long time, I usually don't go 24 hours without touching a soccer ball so this is going to be interesting... But on the bright side, that means more fanfic writing time! *cheers and does lame happy dance* Anyway I'll stop complaining about my problems! Sorry this was so long, okay I'll stop and let you read!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Mentalist**

**Chapter 9**

The CBI team sat gathered in the waiting room. The triplets and their parents had been reunited and gone home. Lisbon was anxiously pacing back and forth. Rigsby sat tapping his foot and occasionally standing up walking around and sitting back down again. Cho sat calmly reading his book. Jane was walking around and watching everyone. Finally after hours of waiting a doctor came out.

He looked around "Is anyone here for Grace Van Pelt?" He asked

The team immediately stopped what they were doing and froze, as they turned to face the doctor.

Lisbon was the first to speak up "Is she okay?" She asked nervously

"She will be fine. Though Ms. Van Pelt is very lucky, the bullet was very close to her organs. We were able to remove it with a minimal loss of blood. She needed stiches in her head and on her knee and her ankle bone was snapped in half but she's okay" The doctor stated

Lisbon was flooded with relieve, everyone smiled. They were so happy their Grace was okay.

"When can we see her?" Rigsby asked enthusiastically, with a goofy grin.

"You can see her right now if you'd like, she's not awake yet but she will be soon." The doctor said.

"We'd love to see her" the team said as they followed the doctor to Grace's room.

"Her she is" The doctor stated, and gestured to room 213

The team thanked the doctor then opened the door. The team eagerly walked in, they saw Grace. She was sleeping her eyes were closed and her bright red hair lay on her shoulders. Her breath was steady and she looked peaceful.

The team quietly sat down in the chairs surrounding Grace's bed. They didn't want to disturb her. Grace's eyes fluttered open as she woke up. She tried to sit up but her head felt heavy and there was a searing pain above her hip. She collapsed back onto the bed. That's when she noticed her colleagues watching her. She realized she was in a hospital but she couldn't quite remember why.

"Hey guys! What's up?" She asked sleepily, but there was still a hint of cheeriness that Grace always had.

"Oh Grace! You're awake, I've been worried sick about you! Don't you ever do this to me again!" Lisbon said as she stood over and gently hugged Grace, she was careful not to hurt her.

Grace was shocked, she couldn't believe Lisbon was showing her sensitive side.

"I'll try not to but what happened?" Grace asked

After the rest of the team said their hello's to Grace, Lisbon told her what had happened.

Once Lisbon told her it all came back. "Are the girls okay?" She asked anxiously

"They're fine! You saved their lives Grace" Lisbon said with a smile

"You're like Superwoman!" Rigsby said.

Grace blushed, and giggled. The rest of the team laughed.

"We missed you!" The team said

"I missed you guys too!" Grace said, she took a moment to realize how lucky she was she had a perfect team, her dream job, she was alive, and she was happy. She smiled.

**Thanks for reading! Please review!**


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